Calories burned on a treadmill

djackins
djackins Posts: 5
in Fitness and Exercise
I am very very new to this. I bought a treadmill about 4 months ago and I walk at speed 4.0 for about 60 minutes at incline 3.0 or 3.5 and it shows me I burned 700 calories. I have read that this is almost impossible. How am I to really know how many calories I am burning? It's a brand new treadmill. A friend of mine does about the same thing too and hers shows right about the same thing but she also heard/read that it's not correct but she just had hers calibrated. Can someone help me? I need to know
how many calories I am burning for my daily excercise deduction.

Replies

  • hbrittingham
    hbrittingham Posts: 2,518 Member
    You can purchase a HRM and get a good estimate of how many calories you are burning.

    When I used to walk on the treadmill, I would walk for 45 minutes at right about 4 mph and I weighed about 170. My HRM gave me a calorie burn of 300.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    Unless you can create a profile adn add your weight and height, everything else is an educated guess.
    Please get your self a HRM for correct calories burned.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I am very very new to this. I bought a treadmill about 4 months ago and I walk at speed 4.0 for about 60 minutes at incline 3.0 or 3.5 and it shows me I burned 700 calories. I have read that this is almost impossible. How am I to really know how many calories I am burning?

    Forget the HRM, it is unlikely to give you an accurate number as all it is doing is math-guessing similar to what the treadmill is doing.

    net calories burned walking = 0.3 * body weight in pounds * miles walked

    This assumes 2% incline on treadmill. Going to 3 or 3.5% won't make a meaningful change in the number.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    When I used to walk on the treadmill, I would walk for 45 minutes at right about 4 mph and I weighed about 170. My HRM gave me a calorie burn of 300.

    Case in point re: HRM. Actual burn was 150, HRM over-estimated by 100%.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    When I used to walk on the treadmill, I would walk for 45 minutes at right about 4 mph and I weighed about 170. My HRM gave me a calorie burn of 300.

    Case in point re: HRM. Actual burn was 150, HRM over-estimated by 100%.

    Not sure that sounds quite right either.

    45 minutes at 4 MPH = 3 miles total @ 15:00 (a fairly brisk walking pace). A 170 lbs person should be burning more than 50 calories per mile.
  • djackins
    djackins Posts: 5
    I hope I am not doing the math correctly because I weigh 132 lbs and walk for 4 miles and I'm coming up with 158.4 calories burned? Please tell me that's wrong.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I hope I am not doing the math correctly because I weigh 132 lbs and walk for 4 miles and I'm coming up with 158.4 calories burned? Please tell me that's wrong.

    It's correct.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator

    give this a try
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Not sure that sounds quite right either.

    45 minutes at 4 MPH = 3 miles total @ 15:00 (a fairly brisk walking pace). A 170 lbs person should be burning more than 50 calories per mile.

    For the mythical "average" person, going at 4mph will burn slightly more than going at 3.5mph, but the difference at this distance is on the order of 10-20 calories.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    I hope I am not doing the math correctly because I weigh 132 lbs and walk for 4 miles and I'm coming up with 158.4 calories burned? Please tell me that's wrong.

    how long does it take you to go 4 miles?
  • djackins
    djackins Posts: 5
    About 60 - 62 minutes
  • djackins
    djackins Posts: 5
    I went to the runnersworld.com website you just posted and put in my weight, time and miles and it showed me I burned 399 calories. I like that number ALOT better then the 158. :happy:
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    http://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-walking/

    this calculator has them burning ~ 300 for 170 lbs. person walking 3 miles in 45 minutes

    this other calculator comes to 298

    http://www.healthstatus.com/perl/calculator.cgi

    it's just math (force = mass x acceleration or something like that)
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    I went to the runnersworld.com website you just posted and put in my weight, time and miles and it showed me I burned 399 calories. I like that number ALOT better then the 158. :happy:

    that's running - at 15:00 pace you could either be fast walk or slow jog

    check those other calcs I posted for walking - I'm thinking 300 sounds about right
  • moment_to_arise
    moment_to_arise Posts: 207 Member
    Forget the HRM, it is unlikely to give you an accurate number as all it is doing is math-guessing similar to what the treadmill is doing.

    net calories burned walking = 0.3 * body weight in pounds * miles walked

    This assumes 2% incline on treadmill. Going to 3 or 3.5% won't make a meaningful change in the number.
    you can't even really go by that either, the more you perform an exercise, the easier it becomes, the easier it becomes, the less you have to exert to perform, the less you have to exert to perform, the less calories you burn.
  • JAllen32
    JAllen32 Posts: 991 Member
    You burn about 100 cals per mile. Give or take a small amount based on weight. 300cals for 3 miles in 45mins is fairly accurate. You can always underestimate if your worried about it and log an even 250.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    I am very very new to this. I bought a treadmill about 4 months ago and I walk at speed 4.0 for about 60 minutes at incline 3.0 or 3.5 and it shows me I burned 700 calories. I have read that this is almost impossible. How am I to really know how many calories I am burning?

    Forget the HRM, it is unlikely to give you an accurate number as all it is doing is math-guessing similar to what the treadmill is doing.

    net calories burned walking = 0.3 * body weight in pounds * miles walked

    This assumes 2% incline on treadmill. Going to 3 or 3.5% won't make a meaningful change in the number.

    ?? I just bought a Polarft4 HRM for this very reason as others told me it would give me the most accurate amount of Calories burned?? :indifferent: Isn't the point of the heart rate monitor is to gauge by how hard your heart is working???

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1044313-this-is-why-hrms-have-limited-use-for-tracking-calories

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    I am very very new to this. I bought a treadmill about 4 months ago and I walk at speed 4.0 for about 60 minutes at incline 3.0 or 3.5 and it shows me I burned 700 calories. I have read that this is almost impossible. How am I to really know how many calories I am burning? It's a brand new treadmill. A friend of mine does about the same thing too and hers shows right about the same thing but she also heard/read that it's not correct but she just had hers calibrated. Can someone help me? I need to know
    how many calories I am burning for my daily excercise deduction.


    For as accurate a measurement of how many calories you burn, an HRM is best. However, as a really, really, loose guide if no HRM is available, 100 calories per mile, so walking for one hour at 4mph, means you walked 4 miles = 400 calories - this is a pure estimation but it is not too far off the mark.

    My own treadmill gives me exaggerated readings too, but it only really matters if you eat all of your exercise calories back, if you only eat some or none of them back, it doesn't matter how many it says you burn.
  • jessee315
    jessee315 Posts: 4
    I have read an article about cardio that stated that you can not rely on the tredmills and machines to count how much calories your body has burned, each indiviual burns at different rates. Just know that if you put your body under physical stress you will burn calories. You said you walk at an incline of 3.5 i would raise it to 14.5 and walk around 3.5 the more stress the better.
  • djackins
    djackins Posts: 5
    Thank you all for all your help. I sure do appreciate it! :smile:
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member

    ?? I just bought a Polarft4 HRM for this very reason as others told me it would give me the most accurate amount of Calories burned?? :indifferent: Isn't the point of the heart rate monitor is to gauge by how hard your heart is working???

    Heart rate does not equal calories burned. But I've spent 2 years trying to get people to stop spreading that falsehood on this site so it's someone else's turn.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    It is like anything else finding something that works the best for each individual, I personally do not do cardio without my HRM (Polar FT60) and have used it to figure out my calories burned... I use the MFP approach (over TDEE) to weightloss so I eat back my calories burned and had to experiment early on and find what percentage works best to allow me to lose. I found that I can eat back 85% of those calories burned. And doing this process has allowed me to lose a few hundred pounds. So I am not writing off the heart rate monitor, it is like everything else, a tool.
  • krauseamanda
    krauseamanda Posts: 6
    I've been told if you cut the total amount of calories burned on any cardio equipment in half, that is a more accurate amount burned. Either way, good for you for doing 60 minutes of cardio a day! Depending on what your goals are and how your diet is, I would think with that much cardio, you have dropped a few pounds already. Keep up the good work!
  • TigerBite
    TigerBite Posts: 611 Member
    You also have to find a way to factor in the incline ... just sayin' ...
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,944 Member
    I use an HRM, which may or may not be accurate.

    For what it is worth, the dietician on my "nutrition for diabetics" course said that 300 kcals per hour was a good ballpark figure for walking at a moderate pace for an overweight person. That's about what the app runtastic gives me when I track outdoor walks.

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